Knowing

OTHER TOPICS IN THIS SERIES

See all other topics in this series related to "Knowing." Read them all to get a good understanding about how we know what we know and how we distort our own reality.

Knowing #2: How Smart Are You?

How smart are you?
How dumb are you?
How do you know?

DIFFERENT KINDS OF INTELLIGENCE

Here are five ways to evaluate intelligence:
I.Q. - Intelligence Quotient
E.Q. - Emotional Quotient
Speed of Comprehension
Retention
Usable Intelligence

I.Q. - INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT

You can learn your I.Q. by taking a test that measures general knowledge, reasoning, and math skills. A score of 100 is considered average. Your score tells you how many people have a higher I.Q., and how many have a lower I.Q.

IQ is an excellent measure of how well you can use your brain to decide about concrete reality.
It doesn't measure how well you apply the knowledge you have.

IQ doesn't change much. You are pretty much stuck with the IQ you have.

E.Q. - EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT

E.Q. is more of an idea than a measurable attribute. If there is a widely accepted test to measure E.Q., I'm not aware of it. E.Q. is a good idea, but it is in its infancy in terms of clinical measurement.

The idea is simply that our since our emotions help us to decide how much importance to put on each bit of data, it would be good to look closely at how we make those decisions.

People in therapy continually improve their E.Q. It's a natural byproduct of all that talk about feelings and reality. So E.Q. can be improved, although the degree of possible improvement depends a lot on your starting point.

SPEED OF COMPREHENSION

It's rather easy to notice how quickly people comprehend. The next time you are talking to someone, look closely at her or his face while you are making a statement. Notice that their eyes widen or they release a frown at the precise moment they comprehend your message.

We can improve our speed of comprehension a little through practice, but we probably can't make a big improvement.

(By the way, no matter how smart you are you can greatly improve the flow of conversation simply by hearing what the other person is saying instead of mentally rehearsing what you are going to say next.)

RETENTION

It doesn't matter how much you can learn if it's not in your brain when you need it. And we retain only a tiny portion of all we've learned.

Since I'm now eligible for senior discounts at a few places, I like to believe the old theory that although we forget more as we get older we also become wiser, since all that experience helps us to see life's overall patterns more easily. Regardless of my own beliefs (or wishful thinking), it is clear that memory declines with age and that we can't stop it from happening.

USEABLE INTELLIGENCE

We each know a lot about a few things, but we know nothing, or close to nothing, about everything else. Our IQ, EQ, comprehension, and retention don't matter much at all compared to the question of whether we use what we know in the real world of people and things.

Imagine that you can watch a video of your last few days. Did you use what you know? Did you hide what you know from others because you feared embarrassment? Did you apply what you know to concrete tasks, or did you just think about what you know and complain that "they" ought to do something about it?

Try to notice every reason you have for not applying what you know. Determine how many of these reasons are based on irrational insecurity and unfair comparisons that you use habitually.

Notice which of your fearful fabrications you can toss away forever.